by Jeremy Blacklow, omg!

Whether you loved it, hated it, or were indifferent to it, Beyonce’s new HBO documentary, “Life Is But a Dream,” which premiered last weekend, certainly stirred up strong reactions from people.

Kevin Frazier’s HipHollywood.com caught up withJada Pinkett Smith at Sunday’s special L.A. screening for the Pan African Film Festival of her own new documentary “Free Angela Davis & All Political Prisoners” (which Smith co-executive produced along with Jay-Z and BET Networks), where she discussed the nature of the criticism Beyonce’s documentary received.

“You know you’re always going to get criticism, always. And so criticism shouldn’t be a reason not to continue,” Smith explained.

“Criticism shouldn’t be a reason not to step out of the box and do something different. That’s part of the world. You know we all get criticized for all kinds of things. But just like how this movie is about a woman who stood for her values, Bey’s got to stand for hers, you got to stand for yours, I got to stand for mine and whoever wants to criticize it let them go ahead and criticize it but at the end of the day, it’s all about are you OK. You look at yourself in the mirror. That’s what it’s about and I will tell you what, Bey’s smiling.”

Smith also talked about her own new documentary, which will be in theaters in select markets on April 5. She was blown away when Davis herself assured her why it was important that this documentary was made. “[Angela Davis is] an American icon as far as history is concerned and when I saw the piece I said, ‘This has to be told.’ Lord knows I thought I knew her story… and I didn’t. And I’ll tell you what’s interesting. I think the win for me was when I was at the Toronto Film Festival and Miss Davis leaned over to me and she said, ‘I never knew how they got me,’ and I looked to her and I was amazed at the fact that we were telling a story about the woman who doesn’t even know her own story which made it even more clear of how important it is to have the story told.”

HipHollywood.com also checked in with the multi-hyphenate talent to ask when we might see her back in front of the camera again. “Yeah, eventually,” Smith assured. “My kids are growing up now and I put in a lot of time making sure my kids are cool especially with them being in this business as a mother they have to stay close to you, you have to stay close to them and protect them by all means necessary. So, they’re getting to the point where they got their own wings and they’re doing OK. So, in a little while I think I’ll be able to step away and get in front of the camera again but it’s a little time. Especially with Willow she’s still a little young and she still needs to be on my hip.”